Croc Valley Camp Reviews

Accommodation in a spectacular location, we can see from the terrace of the hotel hiccups, crocodiles, monkeys, impalas and lizards are all over the complex Very good experience

I highly recommend visiting the Croc Valley Resort. One of the best wilderness travel experiences I’ve encountered. The relaxed and rustic vibe matched perfectly with the safari wildness experience. Great people, great food, and great safari excursions. I went on two safari viewings in the National Park—a morning and a night drive. Multiple animals with a broad variety. Best value for your money in the region. I can’t wait to return.

Location is really cool on the river and also loved the pool. I had to leave a 1 star review due to poor management and resolution of an issue we had with our morning game drive. Our game drive started well seeing an elephant really close up, however the next few hours were spent stopping and and starting our way around the park as the truck continued to cut out, eventually us needing to push start it multiple times. I'm not sure why the guide continued driving as if the truck was going to fix itself??Eventually it completely stopped and we had 1hr-1.5hrs waiting for another car to bring fuel!!!! We had assumed it was something serious, not running out of fuel!! We had spent 50US each through our tour company to spend the morning stopping and starting and pushing the truck to start it. After we refuelled we made our way back to the campsite doing a couple of loops by the gate looking for leopards. Other than the elephant, the other wildlife we saw was also in our campsite. We immediately spoke with the staff at the campsite to inform them what had happened and over the afternoon they said they would need to speak to the manager and come back to us. We followed up several times during the day and got the same response with no resolution. We asked if we could have a discounted night drive at-least. Management didn't even bother to come back to us before going home for the night and was not present in the morning to discuss the issue. Of 14, only 3 people did the night drive (still full price) where as there would have been atleast 10 if management had at least talked with us. We were worried about wasting more money and the same problems happening. We couldn't use another provider without having to pay double for our accomodation*. We spoke to other guests at the park and they said they would have demanded a full refund. Really really disappointed in the service and experience as we were all really looking forward to South Luanga! Also, this made no business sense for them to behave like this as all we were asking for was a discount for the night drive, where we would have been spending another few hundred USD. Go figure. * if you use a different game drive provider, Croc valley will double your accomodation costs!! With this mentality they should take more responsibility when their game drive provider's service was not at all acceptable. NOTE: Happy to adjust this review if management respond to my partners emails and provides us with a partial refund or some sort of resolution.

We came here since my son had been there recently as a backpacker and had a small shared room at a price you probably could not get elsewhere. Wanting a bit more I switched to one of the tent cabins with the full board option - which came out to even more than we paid for the much nicer place we ended staying at after one night at Croc Valley. The leaking AC, nominal water in the shower, holes in the mosquito nets, a guard who made himself at home on our porch, intolerable food if you are over 25, and a very bored Safari guide had us checking out the next day. The kicker was they claimed we had reserved for multiple days when we went to check out - despite when we checked he said we would work it out later as we had paid a deposit for a smaller room - which was much less than our bill for the tent. Despite there only being a few people at the whole place they insisted on us paying for the whole time we "committed" and threatened to call the police if we did not pay for the extra days (we paid, knowing nothing about the Zambian police, they got us - congrats to them) Our stay at Flatdogs was such a contrast, and in fact almost the same price for an infinitely better experience.

This is a nice budget to midrange camp & lodge with a swimming pool, decent food & a great view of the river but be careful with the game drive activity add-on as this was a huge disappointment and not rectified properly either. Our drive started off badly being 20 minutes late and progressively got worse as we actually ended up being 40 minutes late since the spotter (night drive) had been left behind in town so we had to back track. At the end of the evenings drive we broke down in the park & were so so fortunate that another vehicle was able to push start us. I wanted to discuss the experience with management but I feel like I was either ignored or they didn't want to front the matter which was very poor management/ownership. The place is fine BUT please be aware the game drives are not at a profesional level based on what we got

I absolutely loved my stay at Croc Valley. The camp is stunning and the staff are very friendly and helpful. I would recommend anyone who visits the South Luangwa to stay here for a few nights. The game drives offered were amazing, saw leopard every day and lions very regularly.

Solid work by Herbert, Martin and the Bernards. The team is really amazing! Very satisfied with all the safaris I've done with Bernard, I feel like he really understood how to deliver what people were wishing to see (if that's even possible). When it comes to the ecotents a mosquito net inside would've been great.

It’s a lovely setting but I found the decor tired and could do with new furnishings. Pool was very nice and the staff were so friendly and helpful. The accommodation was basic no toiletries apart from a small bar of soap so for anyone doing a long trip was not ideal. The room I had was in need of an update and used shared facilities which were ok but not I would have chose to do. Overall it was a lovely site and position but needs some talc

This has to be one of our favourite camp sites ever! We were able to pitch our tent right by the river, with views of hippos & crocodiles, monkeys running around. We watched elephants crossing the river one morning, and some were walking around the campsite one evening. Great for birdwatching too. Facilities were great, nice toilets & showers, reasonably priced good food (inc vegetarian options), and a lovely pool. Camping & food at good prices, the safari trips also reasonable. The owner & staff all very lovely and helpful. Would highly recommend staying here!

We absolutely loved our 4 night stay at Croc Valley. It is a fantastic lodge because of its old world charm and total immersion in wildlife. We had a herd of elephants wander through camp twice, each day woke up to big baboons bouncing on our tent roof, watched spotted antelope grazing by the pool and enjoyed spotting hippo and crocs in the river from the deck. Food can take a while to arrive but with that view, who cares. Staff were friendly and helpful. We did self-drive for the safari which was brilliant. If you don't have a car, they advise you not to walk to the local town of Mfuwe because of all the animals but you can get a taxi. There are several great lunch spots in town, so it's fun to visit and get a wider selection of dishes if you're staying for a while.

Camping with many solution with different price range. We chose the eco-tent and were satisfied. Everything was always clean. The restaurant is good and prices are reasonable. The view is great. I really recomend staying here.

The camp is on a fantastic site on the river, the game drive are perfectly organized, the national park is amazing with gorgeous landscapes and animals. The food is delicious and abondant, the staff friendly and helpful. The tents are basic but the whole experience worth the price. Absolutely recommended

Stayed 3 nights at the beginning of August 2023 on an all-inclusive basis in A/C riverfront tents. Collected from the airport and driven to the lodge, everything ready for us on arrival. We had one tent, kids had a twin bed tent. Meals announced by a drum - as the lodge has quite a long riverfront, this is a great idea. Food was varied and great quality. It's a fixed menu, but if you want to order something different - e.g. some local food, the staff was more than willing to accommodate. Early morning and late afternoon/night game drives are the reason for coming to South Luangwa, so 5:30 breakfast for a 6am leave - and it is cold before the sun comes up. The late afternoon drive ends with a night drive and a spotter with a lamp. The only game we didn't get to see was Wild Dogs - so a reason to come back. There is time between the game drives that allows you to relax. Which is needed after the early start. In retrospect, the one thing we should have done is used this time on one day to get a lift to the local village/town for the craft market(s) as there are no souvenirs to buy at the lodge. We only thought of this as we were on the way to the airport. Lovely view over the river, crocs and hippos in abundance. Elephants and other game wander around close to the camp, and a leopard came through the camp while we were on a game drive. The facilities are great as well - the widest bar I've ever seen, best swimming pool of our trip, not cold either. My daughter started playing chess on her phone for the rest of our trip after playing on the large board. Every member of staff was great. We did tip our driver, and left a large tip in the staff tips box at reception as there are too many to go around and tip individually - also some were off on the day we departed. Would we go again - yes. Would we recommend the lodge to others - yes.

What an amazing place this was to stay! The setting was grest, with the restaurant/bar overlooking the Luangwa River. Crocodiles and hippos were often clearly visible. The game drives were all good! We were fortunate to see an abundance of wildlife. Friendly staff, lovely grounds, good swimming pool, this was all good!